Chapter XXXII
FAKHR AL-DIN RAZI
A
LIFE, SIGNIFICANCE OF THOUGHT, AND WORKS
The intellectual life of Islam after the attacks of Ash'ari and Ghazali upon rationalistic philosophy can be largely described as the gradual transition from the
rationalism of Aristotelian philosophy toward the intuitive and illuminative wisdom of the Is_hrAgis' and Sufis. Although Islam began to weaken politically
and culturally during the later part of the 'Abbasid Caliphate, Muslim thought especially in the Shi'ah world continued the process of divorcing itself from the
categories of Peripatetic philosophy. One of the most influential and colourful figures in this movement, who played a major role in the attack against the
rationalists, was Fakhr al-Din Razi, who is considered
' For the definition and description of this term refer to chapter on "Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi Magtdl."
Fakhr al-Din Razi
to be the reviver of Islam in the sixth/twelfth century as Gazali was in the fifth/eleventh? Razi is in many ways a second Ghazali; in fact, he may without
exaggeration be considered to be one of the greatest Muslim theologians.
Abu al-Fadl Mubammad ibn 'Umar, known as Fakhr al-Din Razi and also as Imam Fa)c_hr, ibn al-Khatib, and Imam al-Mus_hakkikin (the Imam of the
Doubters),3 was born in Rayy in northern Persia in 543/1149 in a family of scholars who came originally from Tabaristan. His father, Dia' al-Din, was a wellknown scholar in Rayy and was Imam Fakhr's first teacher. Later, Fakhr al-Din studied philosophy with Muhammad al-Baghawi and Majd al-Din al-Jili (the latter
being also the teacher of Shaikh al-Is_hraq Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi) and theology with Kamal al-Din Simnani in Rayy and Maraghah, and soon became a
master of all the sciences of his time including
even the mathematical, medical, and natural sciences'
Having completed his formal studies, Imam Far set out for &hwarizm to
combat the Mu'tazilites, and from there journeyed to Transoxiana and was warmly accepted at the Courts of the Ghur rulers, Ghiyath al-Din and his brother
Shihab al-Din. But this stay terminated soon due to the opposition and jealousy of certain scholars and courtiers. Consequently, Imam Fakhr left the Ghnr Court
for Ghaznah, where he taught for a while, and finally settled in Herat where, under the patronage of Khwarizm Shah 'Ala al-Din, a special school was built for
him. There he spent the rest of his life as a teacher and preacher in comfort and honour among a large number of disciples and students who came from all over
the Muslim world to study under him. He
passed away at the height of fame and glory in 606/1209.6
The career of Imam Fakhr is in many ways a repetition of that of Gazali's.
Like his great predecessor, he was of the Shafi'i school, well versed in all the sciences and philosophy and yet opposed to many aspects of the Greek heritage, a
critic of the Muslim philosophers, and drawn towards Sufism.6 In theology,
6 According to a hadith, in each century God sends a great sage and scholar
into the world to strengthen Islam. Muslim historians, following this hadith, have searched during each century for the fittest person to receive this honour.
3 He was given this title because he doubted so many of the views of the previous philosophers and even of the theologians.
4 In the Wafayat al-A'yan, ibn nhallikan writes that Imam Razi was the greatest authority on the Greek sciences ('ulum al-aua'il) in his time. The best sources for
the biography of Razi are ibn abi Usaibi'ah, 'Uyun al-Anba', ibn alQifti, Tarik_h al-Hukama', ibn Khallikan, Kitab Wafayat al-A'yan, fihhams al-Din
Shahraziri, Nuzhat al-Arufh we Raudat al-Afrah, and ibn Taqi al-Din al-Subki, Tabagat al-4hai'iyyat al-Kubra.
' Al-Subki, Tabagat al-khai'iyyat al-Kubre, Matba'at al-Husainiyyah, Cairo, 1324/1906, Vol. V, pp. 33-40.
6 Although not a great Sufi figure like Ghazali, Imam Razi was nevertheless sympathetic towards Sufism, especially in the later period of his life. Subki, op. cit.,
p. 35, writes that Razi was himself a Sufi, and some of his poems and frequent
quotations from the Sufi masters like Hallaj and abu Said certainly point in this direction. '
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in which he followed the As_h'arite school, he was certainly influenced by Ghazali and Imam al-Haramain. In philosophy he came under the influence of
his compatriot, Mubammad Zakariya Razi, as well as ibn Sina, and in physics his master was without doubt abu al-Barakat al-Bag_hdadi. Like a series of
anti-Aristotelian philosophers before him, Imam Fakhr tried to reconcile religion and rational philosophy by reliance upon ideas derived more from the T
imaeus of Plato than the Physics of Aristotle.'
Imam Fakhr's main role in the intellectual life of Islam was to support the orthodox policy of the Caliphate of his time to suppress rationalistic
philosophy in favour of theology. In the unified view of Islam, politics, religion, and intellectual life have never been divorced, so much so that the political
struggle of minorities in the Caliphate, whether they were opposed to Arab domination or, like the Shi'ahs, to the 'Abbasid Caliphate as such, was reflected
clearly in the intellectual and religious activities of the period. As the Caliphate supported the orthodox Sunni theologians against the rationalists, the
philosophers sought refuge in the C'ou-ts of those minor dynasties that were opposed to the central a.utharity of the Caliphs. So we see such figures as ibn
Sina and Khwajah Nasir al-Din Tasi seeking favour of rulers opposed to the authority of Baghdad, and especially of Shi'ah princes. 8 And, on the other
hand, there appeared a series of great scholars and sages, mostly theologians and Sufis, of whom the most important were 'hazali, Imam Fakhr, and the Sufi
masters like Shihab al-Din Umar Suhrawardi, who lifted their pen in support of the Caliphate and used both theology and Sufism in order to combat
rationalistic philosophy.9 The works of Imam Fakhr were above all else dedicated to this cause. Sunni theology reached its height in his works and
weakened considerably with the fall of the 'Abbasid Caliphate, which came to an end about fifty years after his death.
The writings of Fakhr al-Din Razi, of which nearly a hundred are known, deal almost with every aspect of Muslim intellectual life and include all the
sciences of his time.10 Some of these, like the commentary upon the alIs_harat w-al-Tatbihdt of ibn Sina and upon his 'Uyun al-Hikmah and the Mabdhit_h alMashrigiyyah, are written as criticisms of Muslim philosophers,
' For an outline of the ideas of the group of Muslim thinkers who were influenced
by Platonic physics, see S. Pines, Beitrage zur islamischen Atomenlehre, Berlin, A. Heine GmbH,, Grafenheinichen, 1936.
 It is far from accidental that the philosophy and the sciences which were
connected with the Greek heritage flourished especially in the fourth/tenth century when most of the Muslim world was governed by the Shi'ah Buwaihids
and Fatimids.
• The opposition of this group to Greek philosophy was primarily against its rationalistic and syllogistic aspects. The cosmological and certain
metaphysical doctrines of the Greeks were not only not criticized but were also openly accepted by them. So we see a Ghazali using Hermetic symbolism or
a Fakhr Razi writing numerous treatises on the cosmological sciences.
1° For a bibliography of his works, see Subki, op. cit., pp. 33-40 and Imam
Razi's I'tigadat Farq al-Mnslimin -w-al-Mushrikin, Maktabat al-Nahdat alMisriyyah, Cairo, 1356/1937, Introduction by Shaikh 'Abd al-Razzaq, pp. 27ff.
Fakhr al-Din Razi
especially ibn Sina, and on general problems of philosophy." Others deal with
the many branches of the intellectual sciences including logic, mathematics,
metaphysics, and the natural and the esoteric sciences.
Still another set of books deals with theology, of which the most famous are
the Kitdb al-Arba'in fi Usul al-Din, Lawami' al-Bayyinit, and the Iu iassal, a classic among writings on the Kaldni. Fakhr al-Din also wrote a large number of works
on particular sciences, like the commentary upon the syntax of Zamakhshari, Kitdb al-Sirr al-Maktii n on astrology and astronomy, Ianagib al-Sbdfi'i on history,
the commentary upon the Qandn or Canon of ibn Sina, and many other treatises dealing with medicine, geometry, physiognomy,
agriculture, theurgy, etc. Besides these writings, Imam Fakhr composed a large number of works on the purely Islamic sciences of exegesis and juris
prudence, of which the most famous are the Ma/atih al-Ghaib, the voluminous commentary upon the Qur'an, and al-Ma'alim fi Usul al-Fiqh on the principles
of jurisprudence. Throughout these writings the character of Imam Fakhr as a critic and "doubter" is evident. He criticizes not only the philosophers,
but also theologians like Ash'ari and historians like Shahrastani, whom lie
accuses of plagiarizing Bag_hdadi's al-Farq barn al-Firaq in his al-Milal wa-alNihal 12 Imam Fakhr's particular genius for analysis and criticism is evident
in whatever field he turns his attention to, so that in the annals of Muslim
thought he has quite justly become famous as one who is a master in posing a
problem but not in solving it, in entering into a debate but not in concluding it.
B
THEOLOGY (KALAM)
Muslim theology known as Kalam began as a reaction against the rationalistic
school of the Mu'tazilites, and only gradually developed into a complete
science. In the earlier centuries the theologians, following the lead of abu
al-Hasan al-Ash'ari, tried to use logic, the instrument of their enemies, in
order to defend the truths of revelation. From the fourth/tenth century
onward, this defence itself became more subtle and systematic, reaching its
height in the works of Imam al-Haramain abu al-Ma'ali 'Abd al-Malii al
Juwaini, such as the Irs_had and the Shdmil.13 With Ghazali Kaldm took a new
11 Imam Razi's pupil, Kwajah Nasir al-Din Tdsi, wrote many works answering
his teacher's criticism of ibn Sina and other philosophers.
12
See Fakhr al-Din Razi, Munfzarat, Dairatul-Maarif-il-Osmania, Hyderabad,
1355/1936, where he also criticizes certain parts of Cbazali's Taha/ut al-Falasi/ah
on the motion of the planets. See also P. Kraus, "Les 'controverse' do Fakhr alDin Razi," Bulletin de t'Institut d'Egypt, t. XIX, 1936-37, pp. 187-214.
13 For a history of Muslim theology, especially of the Sunni school, see Shibli
Nu'mani, Tarikh '11m-i Kalam, tr. M. Fakhr Da'i Gilani, Rangin Press, Teheran, 1328/1910, and L. Gardet and M. M. Anawati, Introduction a la thiologie
niusulmane, Librarie Philosophique J. Vrin, Paris, 1948.
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A History of Muslim Philosophy
turn; opposed as it was from the beginning to the school of the philosophers,
it now began to employ the syllogistic method, intellectual ('agli) evidence,
and certain theses of the philosophers, thus laying the foundations of the school of philosophical Kaldm of the later theologians.
Imam Fakhr is the greatest master of this later school of theology, surpassing in many ways even the more illustrious Qhazali. With Imam Fakhr
philosophical Kaldm reaches its zenith of power and perfection; his works became consequently a continuous source of influence over the later
theologians, whether they were Sunnis like al-'Tji and al-Taftazani or Shi'ahs like Khwajah Nasir.14 Properly speaking, Razi must be credited with the
foundation of a new school of Kalam, and certain writers have even considered him to be the Third Teacher after Aristotle and Farabi.16 Actually, he
composed works characteristic of both the first period of Muslim theology-marked by a revolt against the philosophers and yet by a dependence upon their
methods and even some of their ideas-and the second period, after Gh_azali, in which theology became a more independent science and lost much of its
defensive and apologetic quality. Among the first type of writings one may name Mulutssal and al-Arabi'n j Usid al-Din and among the second Asas alTagdis and Lawdmi' al-Bayyinat.
The theology of Imam Razi is marked by the integration of theological themes with other sciences. For example, in his Persian treatise, Asrdr alTanzil,
he combines theology with ethics; and in the Lawdmi' al-Bayyindt, theology with Sufism, giving theology a fragrance of spirituality and a beauty not
found in most writings. In the sixth chapter of the Lawdmi' he gives a detailed and profound discussion concerning dkikr, the invocation of one of the
divine names, which is the basic technique of Sufism. Concerning one of the interior forms of dkikr he writes: "The third kind of dhikr is that man should
contemplate the creatures of God until each particle of the essence of creation becomes a polished mirror before the unmanifested world so that when be
looks into this mirror with the eye of wisdom the ray of the eye of his soul will fall upon the world of Majesty. This is a station without end and a sea
without limit."18 In this way Imam Razi raises theology to a height approached only by Chazali, far surpassing the usual level of this study."
To understand Razi's approach to theology, it is enough to analyse the structure of one of his treatises. We take as an example perhaps the most
n The theological masterpiece, the Tajrid, of Khwajah Nasir al-Din TSsi, who is the greatest of the fi_hi'ah theologians, is to a large extent influenced by
Imam Raz1's Masd'il al-Khamsun.
" This title, however, is more commonly given to Mir Damad, the master of theology and philosophy during the Safawid period.
Fakhr al-Din RAzi, Lawdmi' al-Bayyinat, Library of Imam Rida, Meshed, MS. Cat. No. 233.
1' Imam Razi, like the Christian theologians, considered Kaldm to be the queen of the sciences and subordinated all the other rational sciences like
philosophy and the mathematical and natural sciences to it.
Fakhr al-Din Razi
16
famous of his theological works, the Mu iassal, which became a classic sourcebook on the Kalam almost from the moment of its composition.18 Here,
Imam Razi divides theology into four parts (arkan): Preliminaries, Being and its divisions, rational theology (ilahiyyat), and traditional questions
(sam'iyyat). The preliminaries include the principles of logic, the sufficiency of demonstration (dalil) to prove the existence of God, and the obligation upon
each believer to prove God's existence." The section on Being and its divisions considers the questions of Being and Non-Being, attributes of Being, the
negation of modes between Being and Non-Being, the relation of the One to the many, cause and effect, etc. Rational theology which is interlaced with
passages from the Qur'an concerns the Necessary Being, His attributes and acts and the divine names. Finally, the traditional questions, which are
exclusively scriptural, concern prophethood, eschatology, the Imamate, the faith, and other related subjects. As a whole, therefore, Imam Razi's theology
combines the transmitted or traditional elements of revelation (naqli) and the intellectual and rational evidence concerning religious and metaphysical
questions ('aqli) into a science which takes into account the problems of religion while participating in many of the discussions of philosophy.
In the method and problems of theology, Imam Razi followed the As_h`arites. As he writes in his Kitdb al-Arba'in: "We (the Ash'arites) believe that
God is neither body nor substance, and that He is not in space; yet, we believe that we can see God." But to show his independence of judgment he goes on
to assert: "Our companions (the Ash'arites) have given an intellectual reason for the possibility of seeing God, but we have brought twelve objections
against it which cannot be answered. Therefore, we only say that we can see God by appealing to transmitted reasoning, i.e., the Qur'anic text."20
Imam Razi also criticized Ash'ari on the question of atomism which is such an essential aspect of the As_h'arite theology. Razi rejected atomism in his
earlier works like the Mabahit_h al-Mas_hrigiyyah and wrote his Kitdb alJauhar al-Fard to refute it, but in later works like the great Qur'anic commentary, the Maldtih al-Qhaib, he accepted it once again. (Atomism does not play a major role in his theology as it does in the system of other As_h'arites like
Bagillani.) This change of position occurs also in the rejection of infinity, the void, and the plurality of worlds in the earlier writings and their acceptance in
later works like the Maldti(t.
There are several points in Imam Razi's theology which are of special interest in so far as his particular point of view is concerned. One relates to the
For a more detailed discussion of this work, see L. Gardet and M. M. Anawati, op. cit., pp. 162-64.
In all Muslim theology it is considered obligatory upon each Muslim to prove the existence of God according to his intellectual ability. See F. Schuon,
"Nature et arguments do la foi," Etudes Traditionelle8, Vol. 54, Dec. 1953, pp. 344-63.
fl0 Fakhr al-Din Razi, Kitab al-Arba'in fi Usid al-Din, Dairatul-Maarif-ilOsmania, Hyderabad, 1353/1934, p. 190.
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11
"
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question of faith in which he joins most theologians in regarding faith as the necessary and sufficient requirement for being saved. Hell is not for those
who have committed evil acts accidentally but for the infidels who have no faith. Man is of course responsible for his work but ultimately all is
determined by the divine will. Imam Razi is very emphatic in his determinism and overthrows even the theory of acquisition (kasb) of the Ash`arites. His
Qur'anic commentary is full of arguments for determinism, which he defends more openly and ably than any other theologian. God is the creator of both
good and evil, faith and impiety, benefit and injury; all these qualities are decreed by the determination of the divine will (gads' wa gadar). Yet, none of the
divine acts can be considered to be inappropriate or blameable since God is the creator and ruler of the world, and whatever He does in His kingdom is
His own affair and is as such appropriate.
According to Imam Razi, God's attributes and names must be interpreted symbolically (ta'wil) in order to be understood. He follows the method of Imam
al-Haramain in applying ta'wil to the Qur'an, especially to those verses in which God is attributed with such anthropomorphic qualities as sight, hearing,
etc. This does not mean that Razi tries to overcome the rational difficulties of certain of the principles of faith by ta'wil, as did many of the philosophers.
For example, on the question of resurrection, unlike the philosophers who believed only in the resurrection of the soul, Imam Razi asserts that at
resurrection God will create for each soul the same body, made of the same elements as those it possessed in this life.
On the question of knowledge and the process of reasoning, Imam Razi is of the view that reason is neither the cause of which knowledge is the effect
nor the source which produces knowledge. There is an intelligible succession between the two; God creates a reasoning which knowledge follows
necessarily. He accords a definite value to the rational faculty; his aim in theology is in fact to create a science which combines and harmonizes reason
and revelation, `aql and nagl. In his Qur'anic commentary he calls those who have succeeded in integrating these two elements the Muslim sages (hukama'
isldmiyyah), and praises them greatly. His own importance in Muslim theology lies in his success in establishing the school of philosophical Kalam, already
begun by Ghazali, in which both intellectual and revelational evidence played important
21
roles.
C
PHILOSOPHY
The importance of Imam Razi in philosophy lies more in his criticism of
the philosophers than in the establishment of a new school. Influenced by the
writings of Ghazali, he studied philosophy to such an extent that he became
Many theologians before Razi considered this relation between reason and
E1
knowledge to be custom (`adah), but he explicitly rejects this notion.
Fakhr al-Din Razi
a definite master of it. Unlike the theologians who rejected Greek philosophy totally or the Peripatetics who followed it strictly, Imam Razi criticized
many points of Greek philosophy while accepting certain others. In the introduction to the Mabahith al-Mashrigiyyah, the most important of his philosophical
works, he writes: "Our associates belong to two groups: one consisting of those who imitate the Greek philosophers, permit no one to discuss their thought,
and take pride in being able to understand their sayings, and the other comprising those who reject all of their ideas without exception. Both of these groups
are wrong. We have delved deep into the writings of the previous philosophers and have affirmed the true and rejected the false. We have added certain
principles to this philosophy and hove put forth some new
ideas."
The new ideas of which Imam Razi speaks are mostly those pertaining to the rejection of certain basic elements of Aristotelianism and in some cases of
Platonism. In the Sfabihith he rejects the Platonic ideas, since in the Ash`arite perspective all infinite modes of Being are absorbed in the Absolute. He also
22
criticizes the Platonic notion of knowledge as reminiscence and the idea held by certain Muslim philosophers that light is a body. One of his most
important and penetrating discussions involves criticism of the principle that from Unity only unity can issue forth, ex uno non fit nisi unum, a principle held
by nearly all medieval philosophers. Imam Razi puts this view to the test of his severe judgment and criticizes it with his usual genius for analysis. He
asserts, on the contrary, that from Unity multiplicity can issue forth, but does not pursue the proof of this assertion very far.
The Mabahith deals with many other subjects treated in the well-known texts of Muslim philosophy like those of ibn Sina. In each case it is the acute
criticism of commonly held Peripatetic notions that is of interest. In his commentary upon the al-Isharat w-al-Tanbihat of ibn Sina, which after the
Mabahith is his most important philosophical work, this type of criticism and doubts about Peripatetic philosophy continue doubts which his pupil, Nasir
al-Din Tosi, tried to answer in his own commentary upon the Is_harat. Ever since these works were written, nearly every student of Peripatetic philosophy
in the Muslim world, especially in Persia, has reached this philosophy through the criticism of Imam Razi, so that the thought of Imam Razi has become a
permanent heritage of Muslim philosophers. His other philosophical works, like the commentary upon the `Uyun al-Hikmah, Lubab al-Isharat and many
treatises on logic and metaphysics, are also significant, but his greatest philosophical importance lies in the criticisms and doubts cast upon the principles of
Peripatetic philosophy, which not only left an indelible mark upon that school but opened the horizon for the other modes of knowledge like i,hragi
philosophy and gnosis, which were more intimately bound with the spirit of Islam.
a Fakhr al-Din Razi, al-Mabahith al-Mashrigiyyah, Dairatul.Maarif-il-Osmania, Hyderabad, 1343/1924, Vol. I, p. 4.
2
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A History of Muslim Philosophy
D
THE SCIENCES
There have been very few Muslim theologians who have had as much knowledge of the mathematical and natural sciences as Imam Razi. His preoccupation with the sciences is itself of great interest, because usually the Sunni theologians and doctors of Law shunned any discipline outside the sphere
of the strictly religious sciences. Imam Razi, on the contrary, studied all the awa'il sciences, that is, the sciences inherited from the Greeks, and was
considered by many of his contemporaries to be the greatest authority of his time on them. There is hardly a science in which he did not compose a treatisealthough he never occupied himself with the study of nature in the manner of ibn al-Hait_ham or Birani. His main importance in the sciences was in
considering their principles and their relation to theology and to the spirit of Islamic revelation.
A field in which Imam Razi excelled is medicine, a discipline the mastery of which one hardly expects from a theologian. He wrote several treatises on
health, pulse, and anatomy, and a medical encyclopaedia entitled al-Jdmi' al-Kabir or al-Tibb al-Kabir which he never completed. His most important
medical work was his commentary upon the Qaniin of ibn Sina, which he often criticized, basing himself on the opinions of Galen and the Muslim
physicians, especially Muhammad Zakariya RAzi. The commentary is sufficient evidence that Imam Razi did not learn medicine by reading one or two
manuals but studied it thoroughly and was well versed in it. He was in fact famous in Herat for his ability and exactitude in diagnosis.
Imam Razi also wrote several treatises on geometry, astronomy, agriculture, politics, history, and comparative religion.23 Also of interest are his works
on the esoteric sciences ('ulum gl aribah), to which he devoted much attention. There remain among his writings treatises on theurgy (ftalismdt), geomancy
(raml), physiognomy (firasah)," astrology, and other similar subjects. It is curious that Imam Razi wrote all these treatises, although he was opposed to
certain of these subjects like astrology which he attacked throughout his writings. 28 He was, however, more sympathetic to the study of esoteric sciences
than either the theologians or the philosophers, as is illustrated by his defence of alchemy against the charges of ibn Sina.28
Of particular interest to the history of Muslim sciences is the scientific
" His historical works include Kitab Fada'il al-Sahdbah and Kitab Managib al-Imam Shhafi'i, and his work on comparative religion, the I'tigadat Farq alMuslimin
w-al-Mu kin.,
24
88
See Y. Mourad, La physiognomonis arabe et ie Kitab al-Firasah de Fakhr al-Din al.Razi, Librarie Orientaliste, Paul Geuthner, Paris, 1939.
See Munazarat, pp. 20-24. E6 See MabahiLh ..., p. 214.
Fakhr al-Din Razi
encyclopedia of Imam Razi, the Jdmi' al- 'Ulum.97 This work offers a good source for the names, definitions, scope, and major principles of the various
Muslim sciences. Imam Fakhr begins with a discussion of traditional religious sciences such as theology, jurisprudence, dialectics, comparative religion,
inheritance, will and testament, Qur'anic commentary, and reading of the Qur'an and Hadith; and then passes on to the linguistic sciences dealing with
grammar, syntax, etymology of words, prosody and poetic metre, and, after that to history. Having considered the transmitted (naqli) sciences, he devotes
the rest of the book to the intellectual ('aqli) sciences which include natural philosophy, interpretation of dreams, physiognomy, medicine, anatomy,
pharmacology, the science of the occult properties of things, alchemy, theurgy, agriculture, geometry, science of weights, arithmetic, algebra, optics, music,
astronomy, astrology, metaphysics, ethics and its various branches, and even chess and other games. Imam Razi describes the principles, scope, and major
problems of each science. Despite the fact that his discussion is always general and charateristic of an encyclopedist and never penetrates too deeply into
any single science, the work is perfect evidence of his vast erudition and encyclopedic knowledge. In this respect Imam Razi is similar to the Isma'ili and
the later Twelve-Imam Shi'ah theologians of the Safawid period many of whom, like Shaikh Baha al-Din Amili, took great interest not only in philosophy
but also in all the cosmological and mathematical sciences. Imam Fakhr's importance in the Muslim sciences is, therefore, mostly in bringing closer
together the theological and cosmological traditions which until his time had been far apart, and in studying nature with a view to discovering God's
wisdom in creation, as was done by many other Muslim scientists.28 In this case, as in so many others, he advanced upon a path already trodden by Ghazili.
E
COMMENTARIES UPON THE QUR'AN
Imam Rizi's fame in the Muslim world lies as much in his commentaries on the Holy Qur'an as in his theological works. He was greatly devoted to the
Qur'an from childhood and studied Qur'anic commentary with his father. His study of all the other sciences by no means reduced his love for the Qui an.
As he wrote in old age: "I have experienced all the methods of theology and all the ways of philosophy, but I did not find in them the benefit
27 This work Imam Fakhr wrote for Khwarizm hh1.h abu al-Muzaffar ibn Malik al-Mu'azzam. It has always been a popular scientific encyclopedia and
was
printed in a lithographed edition in Bombay in 1323/1905.
28 Imam Fakbr's writings are full of passages in which he appeals to various
natural phenomena as "signs" of the different divine qualities and names. See his A8rar al-Tanzil, Teheran, lithographed edition, 1301/1883, pp. 68ff.
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A History of Muslim Philosophy
which could equal the benefit I derived from the reading of the exalted
Qur'an."29
Imam Rizi's Qur'anic commentaries include the Talsir al-Fatihah, Talsir Surat al-Baqarah, Asmd' Allah al-Husna, and Risalah fi al-Tanbih 'ala ba'd
al-Asrdr al-Mau'izah fi al-Qur'an, which last is a theological commentary combined with Sufi ideas in which metaphysics (ilahiyydt) is based on the
chapter (surah) al-1 khlas, prophecy on the chapter al-A'la, resurrection on the chapter al-Tin, and the recording of human actions on the chapter al'Asr.
The most important of Imam Razi's commentaries is the voluminous Ma/atih al-Gjaib, known as the "Great Commentary" (Ta/sir al-Kabir), which was
collected and organized by ibn al-Khu'i and Suyuti after his death. This work is the most important theological commentary ever written on the Qur'an.
Imam Razi makes this also an occasion to expose his encyclopedic knowledge in that he intermingles history, geography, and other branches of knowledge
with the commentary of the Qur'anic text wherever possible. He mentions and praises often in this work the Muslim sages who combine intellectual
principles with the principles of Islamic revelation. He also analyses the stories of the Qur'an and interprets their theological and metaphysical meanings.
Despite its volume and the number of topics which do not seem very relevant to the immediate subject-matter, the Mafatih is an impressive theological
Qur'anic commentary. In its intellectual interpretation and the combining of 'aql and nagl, of reason and authority, and in the understanding of the sacred
Scripture it remains one of the major commentaries upon the Qur'an.
F
JURISPRUDENCE (FIQH)
Although primarily occupied with theology, Imam Razi occasionally devoted himself to jurisprudence as well. The few works like al-Mahsul fi al-Usul
al-Fiqh, al-Ma'alim, and Ihkam al-Ahkdm bear evidence to his mastery of jurisprudence which he interpreted according to the school of the exegetes. As
already mentioned, he belonged to the Shafi'i school of which he was considered to be one of the 'ulama' and authentic interpreters. Imam Razi was
particularly well versed in the principles of jurisprudence (Usul), which he treated in a manner similar to theology. This subject has, in fact, never been able
to divorce itself from Kalam, and is still studied almost as if it were one of its branches. The importance of Imam Razi in Shafi'i jurisprudence lies more in
his contribution to the theoretical principles of Figh than in their actual application embodied in the /atwds of the various Shafi'i 'ulamd'.
89
Ibn abi Usaibi'ah, 'Uyun al-Anbd' fi Tabagdt al-A,tibba', Matba'at alWahAbiyyah, Cairo, Vol. II, p. 27.
Fakhr al-Din RAZZ
G
DIALECTIC, RHETORIC, AND POETRY
Following the example of Ghazali, Imam Razi became a dialectical theologian and, as his works testify, excelled in dialectics. He was famous for his
eloquence in persuasion and argumentation, for the quickness of his intelligence and keenness of wit. These gifts were combined with a rhetorical power
which made him the most famous preacher in Herat. Hardly would a scholar dare enter into debate with him; those who took sides against him would soon
feel the thrust of his dialectical and rhetorical weapons. The Mundzardt bears ample evidence of these traits. In its pages one sees Imam Razi as a tiger who
pounces mercilessly upon his helpless adversary and has little regard for softness in discourse. Much of his energy throughout life was spent in attacking
bitterly the small sects which arose against the main orthodoxy, such as the Karramiyyah, who probably finally poisoned him. 30 As the Shaikh al-Islam of
Herat, his main duty was to preach and defend Islam; and he took the opportunity of using his remarkable gifts of rhetoric and dialectic in a manner which
made him one of the most famous of Muslim preachers.
Imam Razi had also the gift of poetry, and many verses both in Arabic and Persian are attributed to him. As in the case of so many other sages like
Khayyam, poetry became for Imam Razi the vehicle for the expression of gnosis and the form of "ignorance" which lies above all formal knowledge. In a
quatrain in Persian he writes:
"My heart was never deprived of science;
There is little of the mysteries that I did not understand. For seventy-two years I thought night and day, Yet I came to know that
nothing is to be known."
H
SUFISM
There is little doubt that Imam Razi was sympathetic to Sufism, especially in later life, when he wrote most of his poems like the one mentioned above.
Moreover, many of his works are, like his Qur'anic commentary, full of Sufistic ideas, and in his Lawdmi' al-Bayyinat he outlines the degrees of
knowledge
90 There is a story told of Imam RAzi's opposition to the Isma'ilis. He used to attack them bitterly in public, accusing them of having no proofs for their
doctrines. One day one of their agents, posing as a student, found Imam Razi alone in his library, pulled out a knife and pointed it to his chest saying, "This
is our proof." Henceforth, Imam Fakhr never attacked the Isma'ilis in public. One day the disciples asked him why he no longer spoke against this groupthe group which he had opposed so bitterly before. He replied, "Because I have seen their proof." This story appears in nearly all the biographies of Imam
Far which we have already mentioned and is characteristic of his wisdom in public life.
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Fakhr al-Din Razi
in a manner very similar to the Sufi treatise of Suhrawardi, Sa/ir-i Simurgi.91 He is altogether a theologian with sympathies towards Sufism.
What is difficult for us to discover is whether Imam Razi was a practising Sufi or not. Certainly Sufism is not so evident in his writings as in G_Aazalti
s, and his life, rich in worldly fame and wealth, had none of the ascetic elements of the life of his great predecessor. There is even an extant letter from the
master of gnosis, the Anadalusian Sufi, Shaikh al-Akbar Muhyi al-Din ibn 'Arabi, advising Imam Razi to leave dialectic and discursive thought and try to
reach the stage of gnosis and contemplation, telling him that in heaven medicine and geometry will do him little good. 32 Moreover, in his writings as in his
life, Imam Razi displayed an aggressiveness and fighting quality hardly characteristic of the lives and writings of the Sufis.
Yet, despite all this negative evidence, some of his later writings do show the clear influence of Sufism upon him, and it may be that, because of his
social position even after joining the circle of the Sufis, he to a large extent hid his sympathies and affiliations in order to avoid any external opposition.
His own poems and his great love for the blind Arab poet abu `Ala' al-Ma'arri, the gnostic who often appears like a sceptic to the uncritical eye, on whose
Diwan he is said to have commented, point to the fact that Imam Razi was not an ordinary theologian but knew that there is another form of knowledge,
gnosis, which lies above all rational sciences like theology. Whether he actually participated in this knowledge in an effective way, is a question too
difficult to answer from either historical evidence or internal evidence from his own
writings.33
There is a poem of Imam Razi which is in itself almost sufficient evidence for his Sufism. In the original Arabic it is so beautiful and effective that
hardly any of his biographers has failed to mention it. Written in old age by a man who was the leading scholar and theologian of his day and who enjoyed
all the comfort and glory of the life of this world, it is a vivid reminder that beyond the sphere of all human life and knowledge there is another reality
which man must seek in order to remain faithful to his own intimate nature.
The poem begins with these verses:
"Our souls fear our bodies as if they want to separate from them.
The result of our life in this world has been nothing but pain to others and sin.
n See the chapter on "Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi Magtul."
88
See Fakhr al-Dhi Razi, at-Risnlat al-Kamaliyah T al-Haga'iq al-Ildhiyyah, Teheran University Press, 1335 Solar, Introduction by Sayyid Muhammad Baqir
Sabziwari, p. (kt).
83 There is a story told that Imam Razi met the Sufi Najm al-Din Kubra in a gathering and boasted of his religious knowledge and said that he knew a
hundred proofs for the existence of God. Najm al-Din answered, "Is not each proof due to some doubt? God has placed in the heart of the Sufi a light of
certainty which dispels all doubt, so that he no longer has need of proofs." Imam Razi hearing this answer surrendered himself to the ahhaikh and was
initiated into Sufism.
For all the discussions and debates of our life
We have derived no benefit but senseless noise. How often have we seen men and kingdoms All perish quickly and
cease to exist!
How was their glory once more exalted than a mountain, Yet, men perish and the mountain remains the same!"
I
THE SIGNIFICANCE AND INFLUENCE OF IMAM RAZI
The many-sided genius of Imam Razi, to which the previous pages bear partial witness, makes him one of the most colourful figures in Islam.
Following the example of Ghazali, by whom he was profoundly influenced and whose retreat in Tos he visited, Razi spent a life-time in combating the
rationalistic aspect of Greek philosophy. Although not of equal stature to hhazali in Sufism and ethics, he, nevertheless, exercised as much influence,
especially in theology, as did his more famous predecessor. Possessed of a special gift for posing problems and for analysing philosophical questions, he
left an indelible mark upon all later Muslim philosophers, especially upon Khwajah Nasir al-Din Tasi, his pupil, who was the reviver of Muslim philosophy
after Imam Razi, and was also the most famous of Shi`ah theologians.
Imam Razi's role in Muslim intellectual life, besides establishing the school of philosophical Kalam begun by Ghazali, was to intensify the attack
against Peripatetic philosophy, thereby preparing the way for the propagation of the metaphysical doctrines of the Itthhragis and Sufis who, like Imam
Razi, opposed the rationalism inherent in Aristotelianism. With the method of doubt in which he was the greatest master in Islam, he analysed and
criticized Peripatetic philosophy in a way hardly ever equalled by anyone except Ghazali. Yet, he was a theologian also interested in the cosmological,
natural, and esoteric sciences.94 Imam Razi played an important role in bringing theology closer to the sciences and even to Sufism, with which he
flavoured his theological works. In the centuries when the Muslim world was turning away from Peripatetic rationalism toward modes of thought more
akin to its own spirit, Imam Razi played a major role in this transformation. He remains as one of the most arresting figures among Muslim theologians, a
figure the power of whose thought spread over the whole Muslim world at the very moment when the Mongol onslaught was putting an end to the
Caliphate, to the survival of which his work was to a large extent dedicated.
" It is of great interest that not only in the Muslim world but also in medieval Christianity and in China many of those who preoccupied themselves with
the science of nature, like the Taoists, Ikhwan al-Safe, and the Franciscans, were opposed to philosophical rationalism and accepted some form of esoteric
and metaphysical doctrine based on intellectual intuition and revelation.
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Political Thought in Early Islam
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